Chapter 119: Have Faith in Me? Get Lost.
"I-Is it over?" the Blonde Youth asked, his voice trembling with the lingering uncertainty of a survivor.
But no one answered him. The others were just as bewildered.
If they hadn't personally witnessed the chaos of the last few minutes, they would have assumed the instance's objective was simply to "survive" and stop Sadako.
Every eye in the room was fixed on Haruto. At this moment, he was the only one who could offer any clarity.
"It's over," Haruto confirmed in a low, steady voice.
A collective sigh of relief filled the small room. Tense shoulders slumped, and the raw relief of having cheated death once more washed through them.
This difficulty… How is this only a second-level instance? they all thought. It was more terrifying than the nightmare-level scenarios the veterans described on the forums.
When I get back, I have to write a post about this. Let everyone see what we went through.
The Blonde Youth's legs gave out, and he slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "I knew I could survive! Heaven won't let me die! Heaven won't let me die!"
However, in the exact moment their spirits relaxed—
"Agh!"
A sharp cry of alarm tore from the Blonde Youth's throat. An icy sensation had clamped around his ankle, feeling exactly like a cold, wet hand gripping him with impossible strength.
He whipped his head around, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
The old black-and-white television had silently flickered to life, its screen a buzzing field of static. What was even more hair-raising was the sight of a single, bloodless hand that had pushed its way through the screen and was now latched firmly onto his ankle.
A curtain of wet, black hair dangled from the television as Sadako's lowered head emerged, accompanied by the tooth-aching grind of twisting bones. She was slowly, inexorably dragging him toward the screen.
"H-Help!"
The Blonde Youth was scared witless, kicking his legs in a desperate frenzy. But the hand's grip was astonishingly powerful; his struggles were completely useless.
"Save me! I'll never jinx myself again!"
Yotsuya Miko reacted in a flash, immediately tossing him the bag of skeletal remains from the floor.
The Blonde Youth fumbled to catch it, yanked out a bone, and held it out with a desperate shout.
"Good dog—ptui, Mother Sadako, these are the bones you wanted! Here! Take them all!"
Sadako, however, showed no reaction. It was as if she couldn't see or hear him at all, her focus solely on dragging him into the television's static-filled maw.
"Maybe… we need to throw her remains into that well inside the television," Yotsuya Miko analyzed calmly.
Tao Shou and Number Six, who had been about to step forward to help, immediately froze in their tracks upon hearing her hypothesis.
The Blonde Youth was on the verge of tears. "My dear sister, are you sure? I… I won't just get eaten by her, will I?"
"I'm not sure," Yotsuya Miko admitted, shaking her head. "It's just a guess, but the probability is high."
Her words offered no comfort. A high probability still left a chance of being devoured. Seeing half his body already swallowed by the television screen, he was about to resign himself to his fate and give up the struggle.
Just then, Haruto suddenly stepped forward.
"Boundary of Fragility and Solidity."
The Blonde Youth blinked, stunned. The dull ache that had been spreading through his body vanished completely. He felt nothing at all, as if he had become indestructible.
The next moment, Haruto grabbed his wrist and yanked—hard.
The hand grasping his leg lost its grip, and the Blonde Youth's entire body flew out of the television's pull, landing on the floor with a solid thud.
He scrambled to his feet, frantically checking his arms and legs. His wrist was red from the pull, but otherwise, he was perfectly intact.
"Boss, you're amazing! That's some Herculean strength!" the Blonde Youth gushed, overjoyed. He knew that currying favor with the boss was the single most important survival tactic.
Seeing this, Yotsuya Miko looked puzzled. "So that method was wrong? Is the task just to survive? Is there a time limit?"
"I'm not sure, but there's no time limit," Haruto replied, shaking his head. "Surviving is the correct task, but surviving after eliminating Sadako is also a form of survival."
He glanced at the television. "We could try throwing her, along with the TV, into the well in the courtyard outside."
"Then should we cover the television with a bag first?"
Just as Yotsuya Miko finished speaking, the television screen flickered with static again. Amidst the flashing snow, the image of that withered, stone well reappeared.
"Sh-she's coming again…" The Blonde Youth scrambled backward on his hands, but this time, Kaguya didn't retreat. Instead, she stepped forward.
"Covering it? What for?" she declared with a haughty flick of her hair. "Haruto, give this princess an ultimate!"
Haruto rolled his eyes at her but still activated his God Summoning ability, targeting Kaguya.
Kaguya's position didn't change, which made sense, as she was already inside the instance with them.
"Did it work?" Haruto asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. This was his first time using the God Summoning skill. As for Eirin's theory that it would allow Kaguya to exert one hundred percent of her power without being suppressed by the instance, it was still just that—a theory.
Kaguya didn't answer. Her lips merely curled into a flamboyant, self-assured arc. She nonchalantly raised her right hand and lightly snapped her thumb and middle finger.
In that instant, Sadako and the television froze simultaneously.
Even the static that had been flickering across the screen came to a complete standstill, as if time itself had been paused at that very moment.
Everyone's eyes widened, their faces masks of pure disbelief.
Is this… time stop?
Although they had heard Haruto describe Kaguya's power before, witnessing it with their own eyes was a shock on an entirely different level. This ability, which transcended the very rules of their reality, made them all hold their breath.
Feeling their stunned gazes upon her, a look of deep satisfaction bloomed on Kaguya's face. After being suppressed for so long, it felt good to finally cut loose.
She reached forward, casually yanked the frozen Sadako out of the television, and turned back to the others.
"Someone come and move the television, quickly. Let's finish the clearance task and get out of here."
The Blonde Youth was the first to react, promptly and nimbly hoisting the television. With Sadako pulled out, the appliance was no longer a threat.
When they reached the door, Haruto pushed it open, and everyone froze once more.
Standing just outside was Lu Bowen, his human body now grotesquely topped with a rabbit's head. He was dragging a long, glistening trail of blood behind him, and a group of eerie, mutated "rabbits" had gathered near the crimson stains.
The mutation! They had almost forgotten about that problem.
However, after surviving the ordeal with Sadako, everyone's psychological resilience had been tempered. Faced with such a scene, they felt little of their previous fear.
The Blonde Youth even put down the TV and pointed a finger at Lu Bowen, cursing. "You still dare to show your face? Sadako is already in our hands! Where does a small fry like you get the guts?"
Lu Bowen stared at him, his gaze so venomous it made the Blonde Youth feel a prickle of unease, but he bravely glared right back.
"Small fry?" Lu Bowen's harelip twisted into a grotesque grin, and he let out a maniacal laugh. "This is the perfect form bestowed upon me by that Lord! The ultimate aesthetic of the New Human! How could you possibly comprehend the power of that Lord?"
As he laughed, his gaze shifted to Kaguya, and his eyes filled with a disturbing piety.
Kaguya, however, merely shivered in disgust.
"Don't you dare look at me like that!" she snapped. "While I do enjoy petting rabbits, my tastes are limited to cute Bunny Girls. As for disgusting and ugly creatures like you, stay far away! Don't you come near me!"
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